Viewers of Tuesday night’s presidential debate heard a whopping 17,813 words, and only 570 of them were in the form of a question. The rest came from two candidates and a journalist whose word choices paint an interesting picture. Literally.

CNN’s broadcast included a pair of timers that kept track of how long the two candidates spoke. The final tallies were 44 minutes, 4 seconds for Obama; and 40 minutes, 50 seconds for Romney.

Yet even with more than a three-minute disadvantage, Romney said more than Obama. The transcript shows that the president’s portion totaled 7,507 words. The faster-talking Romney finished with 7,903.

Candy Crowley spoke a total of 1,833 words, the most common of which — no surprise — were “president,” “governor” and “question.”

Despite the on-air confrontation over the Sept. 11, 2012 assassination of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya — a fiery exchange that dominated the post-debate punditry — the words “terror” and “attack” barely registered on either candidate’s word clouds.

Romney said various forms of the word “terror” nine times, Obama just once.